Love of a Goddess
by BlueSpiritFire1
Summary: A oneshot revolving around Etro and her feelings for Caius; why she gave him her heart. Will quite possibly/probably be spoilerish for people who haven't played FFXIII: LR.


**Disclaimer:** I do not claim any ownership over Caius Ballad, Etro or Final Fantasy XIII in anyway shape or form.

**So this is like a long drabble thing that I thought of after I read up on the lore behind Etro and her messed up family. And then i heard 'I Love This Life' and I thought _'Oh wow, that's so Caius x Yuel'_ AND THEN I realised that I was completely wrong and it was Etro x Caius. Besides, I always wondered why Etro saved him, above anyone else. I can only conclude that she loved him; maternally, romantically, admiringly, any and all.  
**

**Love is a complicated thing for mortals. Who knows how a Goddess' heart works?**

**Anyway, who couldn't love him? He's just...he deserves to be loved. I find him incredibly emotionally painfully loveable. My heart's desire? I just want to reach out and hold him, make things right in the world for him, like he tried to do for Yuel.**

**BEAR IN MIND: I haven't played LR myself; THIS IS PUT TOGETHER FROM WHAT I READ ON THE LORE ON THE WIKIA. It may be wrong in some parts pertaining to the mythology.**

**Enjoy!**

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**Name:** Love of a Goddess  
**Song:** I Love This Life – Kim Cesarion, On My Own – Ashes Remain  
**Pairing:** Etro x Caius

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Etro gazed upon the soul at her feet, resting on the black sand shores that surrounded her realm, Valhalla. Her eyes, emerald green and glittering like stars stared at it intently before a smile curled her lips up and she kneeled down to gather the being in her arms, cradling it with the love of a mother. And she was; mother to the human race, giver of souls. But there was an especially chaotic beauty in this particular soul. The material form it took residence in wasn't hard on the eyes either. Even a Goddess could appreciate physical beauty, although her needs transcended the tangible. She floated through the timeless air toward her temple, situated at the centre of the Unseen Realm. Her silky ghost-like white and grey clothes swept out behind her and even though they exaggerated her figure, it was clear that she was larger than the one she held, in every way. Inky black straight tresses floated out behind her mingling with the cloth.

Various Eidolons she passed stared at her momentarily before averting their eyes. They all knew of her fondness for her 'children' but to bring one into her temple, where they were not even permitted, was madness!

Etro knew of their thoughts and cared not for them as she landed on the balcony and strode into the inner chamber. She lay the male black-clad warrior down at the foot of her throne, kneeling beside him and cradling his head and torso on an angle as she waited for the moment he would open his eyes.

She adored the colour of his eyes.

Her long slender fingers ran through the straight lavender strands of his long hair, brushing the beads and feathers he had woven into it through the years. At her touch his eyes slowly flickered open, emerging from the dregs of a fresh death. Upon setting sights on her, he was at a slight loss for words, but not entirely. "…Wh-Where am I?" he croaked, deep lush baritone unusually raspy as though he'd been in the desert without water. Etro smiled and whispered to herself. "Beautiful…" Her voice lifted in tone and changed from wistful to gentle. "You have died in the mortal realm, Caius...Sweet Caius. Your soul has journeyed to the shores of Valhalla."

As realisation slowly sunk in, that the incarnate summoning of Bahamut had indeed taken his life, the deceased Guardian also managed to identify her. "Y-You are the Goddess!?" He struggled to get up and off the revered deity, but she placed one large hand over his heart, stilling him. Etro stared at him owlishly, smiling all the while. "Indulge me, Caius. You have one of the most beautiful souls…I've missed its presence so."

The mortal was stunned into compliance, letting himself lay in her arms. Suddenly Etro sighed woefully and a great sadness washed over her serene expression, drowning her rich green eyes in sadness and stealing the glow from them. "What ails you, Goddess?" Caius asked quietly with a voice no longer dulled by passing and genuinely concerned. He was unprepared when she cupped the right side of his face with her hand and ran her thumb down from the corner of his eye. "I love this life; the vibrant energy your soul burns with! Your passion and strength…But the chance to have it soar, to blaze into the world is such a fleeting one! It brings me such sorrow to reclaim it!"

And Etro wept.

Her tears glistened like liquid crystal and within them sparkled events of all time, twinkling for a moment before being overcome by other images. "I want it to live forever!" she blurted out. Caius could only stare in shock with large eyes and the raven-haired Goddess of balance and death shed tears of _his_ fate.

But the pearl of an idea glimmered in her eyes and her tears stilled. "Caius, dearest Caius…Do you want immortality? Would you like to retain the life you had, forever? You could protect Yuel, for all eternity; guard her beautiful soul with yours." He was shocked at her proposal. "I-How would such a thing come to pass?"

Etro smiled playfully, but alluded to no answers. "Would you? Do you want to keep on living?" she asked once again. Caius thought for several moments before he responded, and really, how could he refuse? "If it would please my Goddess, I will do as you wish, and protect Yuel for all time." Etro sighed in relief and smiled. "Oh it does! I am happy! Worry not, for Bahamut shall be at your side for you to call upon at will as you had done in the final moments of your mortal life. Now, be still, love."

The Guardian was as thrown off guard by her words as well as her following actions. She shifted him and tiled back his head before kissing him full on the lips. It wasn't lustful and greedy, but full of warmth and love. Power and courage flowed through him, vitality and the blessing of the power of a the Eidolon King engulfing his spirit in a fire only he could feel. And then he felt it; a stabbing pain in his breast. The thundering beat of a wildly strong heart.

Etro moved away and sat back on her heels, smiling still. "it is done. I have bestowed upon you, my immortal heart. Its burden can only be overcome by one with a soul possessing greater willpower than you. And there are none so." Caius pulled his mind together and gathered his scattered senses. "Your…heart?!" Etro nodded once. "It has been yours for a time already, Caius. Now sleep. When you wake you will be in Paddra." Before he could protest at the illogical nature of her gift, Etro placed her palm over his eyes. Oh how she loved those eyes.

He fell limp in her arms and she collected him in her embrace, holding him tightly before lifting him up and leaving the temple, returning to the air and floating back down to the same shore he has drifted ashore on. Glowing blue particles danced with each step she made, wading up to her waist and laying Caius flat on his back to rest on the surface of the obsidian waters. He floated in place for a moment before a pulse of crimson from his new heart washed over him and he faded out of Valhalla, and Etro's arms, into Paddra, and the mortal form he had left.

As the new immortal strength pumped through his soul and into his corpse, giving it life once more, Etro shed her tears of time; for the events that would now inevitably unfold and lead to her doom. But she had never been attached to her existence. Her father had forsaken her at birth. Her brother and sister cared not, even when she bled eons ago in a bid for her father's attention. Lindzei had even used her blood as clay, playing with it to fashion life. She had only ever found solace in her dying grandmother, Mwynn.

But more than that, Etro cried for them; her beloved Caius and Yuel, for the nameless faces in the future that were not yet born, for all her children and the sorrows they would suffer. She cursed her own unquenchable thirst to watch them grow; to watch them challenge her siblings and eventually Bhunivelze himself. The human race would be her triumph, her one and most important win over her father. She, who had not been blessed with powers like Pulse or Lindzei, would be the creator of that which outlasted anything they had created out of boredom or duty.

Etro knew from the moment they came into being from her blood and the chaos she gifted them that she would give herself to human beings entirely. But that would be exactly why they would live. Her love and strength would empower them all; to fight and survive beyond anything else; even the Gods themselves.

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**Yeah so, random crack pairing is crack. Sweet addictive literate crack.**

**Please review if you feel so inclined! **

**I could really use the feedback after not having written anything for several months. **

**I feel like my writing has deteriorated v_v **

**By the way: I know they say that Etro looks like Mwynn, and Yuel looks like Etro, but I don't think Yuel would look EXACTLY like Etro. Thus the different hair colour.**

**Botched title is botched.**


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